Adventures By Disney - A Tale of Two Cities - Page 51 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Yes, this picture is truly awesome - great job, Lisa!
I never knew there were restaurants and shops inside the Eiffel Tower, very cool! You had a wonderful view at lunch. I'm impressed with you speaking enough French to get directions, and it's so funny at all the pictures you stole that look "just like" the ones you took! Ready to hear about DLP!
Do you notice something in the picture??? You can see the Panoramagique hot air balloon (that's at the Disney Village in Disneyland Paris) from the Eiffel tower! That's so cool!!!
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Originally Posted by disney_duke
I noticed that "balloon" looking thing too and was wondering what it was. How cool is that??
Finally caught up with your TR, and I'm so behind. All I can say is amazing. Stunning. Gorgeous. Stupid memory card, but good friends!
I'm pretty sure that tethered balloon isn't the one at Downtown Disney (the DLP one looks just like the one at WDW - red and yellow). I think it's the one I passed earlier in the week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disneybine
I do have one question: You made a joke about how a dinner at the Jules Verne restaurant would have doubled the Adventures by Disney tour. Now, I was wondering, how does it work with meals on the AbD tour? Are meals included in the price? And if so, do you get to pick anything from the menu?
All meals with the group were included (in fact, all tips for guides, hotel staff, etc. were included too, the only exception being Eddie and Andy, our ABD guides). Most meals were a set menu, but a few times we were able to choose from a few items. We never just ordered off the menu. Breakfast was always the hotel's breakfast buffet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minnie Lor
Oh this part is over. I've loved every minute of it. I think it's so cool that you can get around so well on your own in a foreign country. (pats you on the back) Loved the last night festivities but your YMCA picture and smiley had me roaring with laughter. So much that my dog jumped up and started barking at me.
I wasn't in the room, so the funniest thing to me is imagining what the conversation was like leading up to it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Meggera
Sharon, this has been a fantastic TR. I, too, love the picture looking up from underneath the Eiffel Tower. And, your new sig pic is FABULOUS! You look stunning! I'll be looking for the link to DLP.
Aww, thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by christiejay
Yes, this picture is truly awesome - great job, Lisa!
I never knew there were restaurants and shops inside the Eiffel Tower, very cool! You had a wonderful view at lunch. I'm impressed with you speaking enough French to get directions, and it's so funny at all the pictures you stole that look "just like" the ones you took! Ready to hear about DLP!
That's actually a picture from the Photopass. Andy must have taken it, because he suggested we take it ourselves (and I did, but I lost it ). It's funny how between Lisa's pics and the Photopass (and ones stolen from the net ) they really do look like ones I took. I guess there are only so many ways the Eiffel Tower can look!
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Ok, you must have gone to the LaDuree located on Rue Royale because it looked different than the more chi chi location I went to on Les Champs. I don't recall if in my trip report I talked about how I picked up macaroons for Kareen. It turned out she wanted me to get them for her so she would have a gift for someone back home not realizing she would not be able to take food products onto the plane. As a result we shared the macaroons. Oh so yummy! Mmmmmm I'll hop on a bus to NYC and meet you and we can fly out this weekend and grab some!
You aren't kidding about the Jules Verne raising the price of your tour. Average price per person for a meal there would be about $250.
I just want to go on record to say that you experienced a cringe worthy event. I HATE the song YMCA. Ugh! I would have been cringing in my seat.
The reason I believe that ABD makes the trip this length is because the majority of its client base are Americans. Americans, in general, have lousy paid time off/vacation time with their employers. Even if they qualify for several weeks vacation they are guilted into taking only a week here and a week there. Many Americans can not take 3 weeks consecutively for a vacation. Since so many Americans are only free to take one week off, ABD has designed their tour so that it jives with what Americans can do. Most could get away with getting off for an extra day or two if needed. At least, this is my theory regarding the reason for why they shortened their trip. Europe Through the Back Door did the same thing. They used to have many trips that were 17 days, 20 days. In 2009, you'll find that to be rare. Many of their trips are now 10 days and the reasoning they gave was the reason I stated above.
While you did not look like a teenager in that one photo, I do see what you mean about looking young. Don't you love poor lighting?
Bittersweet is right...but at least we still have DLP to look forward to. And again...thanks for the wonderful memories. I loved the Eiffel Tower. And that picture Andy took underneath is fabulous. I loved the streets around Notre Dame almost as much as Notre Dame itself. That's the Spanish quarter right?? Only bad memory from the Spanish quarter was the French pigeon pooping on my head.
The reason I believe that ABD makes the trip this length is because the majority of its client base are Americans. Americans, in general, have lousy paid time off/vacation time with their employers. Even if they qualify for several weeks vacation they are guilted into taking only a week here and a week there. Many Americans can not take 3 weeks consecutively for a vacation. Since so many Americans are only free to take one week off, ABD has designed their tour so that it jives with what Americans can do. Most could get away with getting off for an extra day or two if needed. At least, this is my theory regarding the reason for why they shortened their trip. Europe Through the Back Door did the same thing. They used to have many trips that were 17 days, 20 days. In 2009, you'll find that to be rare. Many of their trips are now 10 days and the reasoning they gave was the reason I stated above
Thanks for explaining how it works with meals, Sharon. And about the hot air balloon. I was so excited to see it I just assumed it must be the one in DLP
Douglas' reasoning why the trips are rather short makes perfect sense. As someone who gets 6 weeks paid vacation each year, I tend to forget that that's not the norm in other countries.
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As someone who gets 6 weeks paid vacation each year, I tend to forget that that's not the norm in other countries.
Hurray for living in Europe! We may not have WDW within a couple of hours reach, but we do have loads of holiday time to take good long visits there, which is surely the better way round to have things...
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That's so cool!!!
this part is over. I've loved every minute of it. I think it's so cool that you can get around so well on your own in a foreign country. (pats you on the back) Loved the last night festivities but your YMCA picture and smiley had me roaring with laughter. So much that my dog jumped up and started barking at me. 
). It's funny how between Lisa's pics and the Photopass (and ones stolen from the net 
) they really do look like ones I took. I guess there are only so many ways the Eiffel Tower can look! 
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